Materia Medica
by Red Cap V
Summary: The further adventures of the Teen Titans, experienced by a whimsical healer.
1. Ignite

(Titans Tower)

Tic… toc… tic… toc…

The steady, soft sound of a small table clock was only thing that was being focused on as the girl sat down at the chair, flipping a small remote control in her hand a few times before she set it down.

Glancing around the room, she narrowed her green eyes at the sight of it all. Though she had a large room, she also had an excessive amount of books that had been stacked chaotically in dozens of columns around the room. Books on human anatomy, herbal remedies, healing practices, animal anatomy, medicines, surgical techniques new and old, and various other things like magazines or notebooks where strewn throughout the room. Some of them where open, left sitting at the tops of it all.

The shelves of the room where completely empty.

Turning back to the table in silence, the red head glanced blankly down at a fresh pad of paper and a pencil, thinking for a moment before she picked them up and put the pencil to her lips.

"That's pretty good. To… the poor little guy." She smirked, putting the pencils point back onto the paper and making her best attempt at cursive. Continuing with her letter, she took a moment to jab her pencil into an electric sharpener on the other end of the desk. The sound of it grinding the wood away from the point made her wince a little, but she pulled the pencil back and simply went back to writing, her lips twitching as she did so.

_As you've probably heard, I made the cut and I am an actual member of the team now. I can only say that I have no idea how I managed to do it, but why stop to think about it? The others here seem so hardcore about everything that I have a bit of trouble fitting in with them. Robin and Raven are especially tricky. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Let me explain a few things._

_First off, I'll be calling myself Pearl from now on. I can't use my name anymore, and I won't write yours here either. From now on I have to be concerned about the safety of those that actually like me but don't have super powers. Who knows what would happen if some bad-tempered asshole decides to get ahold of this letter, but I agree with Robin. I won't take the chance, and you shouldn't either. It's sad, but I can't exist as who I was before for as long as I do this._

_It will give me a complex in a few years, don't worry about that._

_I should also tell you that I've dyed my hair recently because of this type of thing. I've gone from being a blonde to having a nice, fiery shade of red. I'm not sure if it suits me yet, but I'm willing to leave it like this for a little while at least. It makes my eyes look greener, though. You'd love it. _

_As for the outfit I've decided to go with: like my name, it isn't quite the same as something you would expect from a 'super-hero' like myself. You'll see a picture of me in it soon enough, but I want to tell you about it. I've decided to go with a more typical approach, so I used it as an excuse to get myself in a white skirt and blouse. I tried not to make it too much like a sailor outfit, and it isn't really 'sexy' anyways. The material is some kind of lightweight armor that's supposed to be able to stand up to knifes or small caliber weapons, but I have no idea how it could. I don't trust it by itself, so I had Robin make me a pair of stockings out of the stuff too… so my legs would be covered. Don't get too many ideas, because those are white as well. I want people to be able to associate me with my powers, and be able to pick me out of a crowd if I'm needed. More likely they'll be trying to catch a peek up my skirt, though._

_Robin also gave me a white and pink jacket that has almost everything I would need to use jammed into pockets all over the thing. I just need to memorize which pocket had a surgical blade in it, and which has a painkiller. (Front breast pocket, and inside shoulder pocket. See, I'm learning it!)_

Stopping for a moment, Pearl tapped the eraser of the pencil down onto the remote, pressing down on the power button. Instantly there was a click on the other end of the room from behind a stack of magazines, and a soft sound filled the air. Spinning the pencil in her fingers, Pearl leaned to the side slightly as she continued.

_I had a talk with Robin earlier today about my job here, and I found out that it isn't quite what you would expect. I may have the ability to heal a lot of things, but I have to be just as effective in combat as they could be. At the same time, I have to know when not to jump into the fray and start swinging. Robin and Raven basically want me on the team because I can handle what happens to everyone else in the world when the Titans are taking down robots with machine guns. I have to learn how to balance this out. I have to be able to help my team, and help anyone else that gets hurt. It's not going to be easy, and Robin definitely didn't sugarcoat it. _

_I can't just hang back in the Tower and play doctor when the Titans limp back with broken arms and black eyes. I have to be there with them._

_Cyborg let me choose what weapons I could use to defend myself or use in a fight if I needed to. I chose a gun. It's not a normal gun, though. It fires energy instead of bullets, like Cyborg's gun arm. It uses short bursts, though. It's kind of like those blasters you see on sci-fi movies, and I can even set for stun. _

_The fact that it can be set for 'kill' is something I still don't think much about._

Pausing for a moment to put the pencil down and flex her hand, Pearl leaned back in the chair and listened to the soft music that was playing from the far end of her new room, from the small radio she'd recently bought. Shifting in her seat as she glanced down at herself, she frowned a bit as a pang shot through her gut, followed by a heavy grumble.

"Ugh… that does it. Time to get something to eat." Pearl sighed. She would have to get back to writing in a moment. Sliding out of the chair, she went over the hallways in her head, trying not to forget how to even get to the fridge.

She'd only just gotten out the door when she came face to shiny metallic chest with one of the other Titans: Cyborg. She halted herself just in time to save her nose, and looked up at him curiously. He was standing frozen in place, his hand raised up to knock on the door.

"Hey! Saved me from having to buff my hand again." He said with a smirk, taking a step back as he lowered his hand.

"Hi Cyborg." Pearl smiled, not caring if her hair wasn't in a ponytail like before. It was getting late, after all, and it was time to start winding down and relaxing a bit. "Please tell me that you guys ordered a pizza or something. I'm feeling ravenous right now."

"How'd you guess? We've got about five pizzas sitting there for everybody."

"Did you get a veggie?" Pearl asked, her eyes widening. "Please say yes."

"We got two of them. Beast boy talked us into it. Why?"

"No time!" Pearl exclaimed, suddenly breaking into a sprint, racing to the end of the hall before she stopped and looked around. The hall went off in two different directions, and she wasn't sure which way to go. It all looked the same: red carpeting and windows. "This or that? This place is too big!"

"Um… it's left." Cyborg answered with a shake of his head.

"Oh! Thanks!" Pearl answered, before she dashed to her left.

"Yo! My left! My left!"

Screeching to a halt, Pearl looked around and realized she had been running towards a dead end up ahead. Her face turning a bit red, she turned back and went the other way, Cyborg casually walking ahead of her.

"I hate doing that." She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she tried to ignore the emptiness in her stomach. It was a bad idea to run like that, so she'd have to walk their or be carried. Walking was preferable.

"So you had a blonde moment." Cyborg hinted, his human eye winking at her.

"I'd take offense to that, but my stomach doesn't care what my ears hear." Pearl answered back, shrugging her shoulders, a slight smirk on her face.

(Soon)

"Save me some garlic dip." Pearl asked, taking a seat next to Raven as the others took their places at the circular table.

This area was normally reserved for playing cards at, but with so many people all coming to the same spot to eat, it was a lot easier to sit here than it would be on the couch. Besides, this wasn't a frat house.

"What'll it be, Pearl? Plain cheese?" Beast boy asked, looking at her curiously.

"Give her a slice of the double pepperoni. Don't tell me about vegetables. "

"I don't suppose you two could let the girl make up her own mind, could you?" Raven stated, plucking a breadstick out of the box and eyeing it, looking almost disgusted.

"Yeah! Give me the veggie. The whole thing." Pearl asked jokingly, reaching over to Cyborg's spot and snatching his can of soda.

"Hey now! If you're gonna come in here and steal my drink, you gotta eat the pepperoni." Cyborg said, trying to look stern. "Or at least do the dishes, for crying out loud."

"Cyborg, I'm a vegetarian." She answered, raising an eyebrow at him as she opened the can of pop and took a quick gulp. "Don't ask a healer like myself if they eat flesh. We just cut it open. And I already thought I was going to do the dishes."

"You're a vegetarian too?" Beast boy asked, suddenly getting a grin on his face. "I like you on the team already."

"Beast boy's standards are very low, you'll find." Sighed Raven.

"Seems that way. Where's Robin and Starfire at, by the way?" Pearl asked, looking at their empty spaces as she reached over and grabbed two slices of pizza and slapped them down onto a paper plate.

"They went out on a date a while ago. They should be getting back sometime soon." Cyborg answered, looking from her to Raven. Turning back to her, he was just about to say something when everything was interrupted by a very familiar sound. An almost annoying alarm began to wail, making everyone at table sit up in alert.

His arm raising quickly, Cyborg eyed the details showing up on the screen on his arm, glad he linked himself up to the Towers systems.

"We've got a fight on our hands. Somebody brought back that fire elemental, inside of the freaking city. Looks like you may get to show your stuff, Pearl. It's setting fire to anything it comes across." Cyborg snorted, shooting up from his seat. "Get the lead out, people!"

Pearl simply groaned, eyeing her pizza in disappointment as she pushed herself up from her place, her stomach complaining at her again.

"Pearl, grab an energy shake from the fridge over there!" Beast boy called out as he rushed off. "It'll give you a boost for a while."

"Right!" she answered back, hurrying over to it, almost on automatic pilot at this point.

She grabbed three of them before she made a break for the doors, intending to guzzle as much as she could without making herself sick from it. She still had everything she needed, and all her equipment was ready to be used.

There was a hope she wouldn't need to do much tonight, though. Between the Titans and herself, she should be just fine.

Her mind told her otherwise, though.


	2. Trial by Fire

(Jump City)

The speeds this car could go where amazing, if only to the newcomer that was in the back seat. She was unlucky enough to lose to Raven in the calling of shotgun, so she'd had to resign herself to hanging her head just out the window, letting the cool breeze sweep her hair around.

She felt much better, having drank the first two cans that she had grabbed, but at the same time it was no substitute for solid food, and it was because of that she was nursing the last shake. Casually taking a loud slurp of it, she glanced over at Beast boy when he chuckled, but turned her attention back to the window. She would still have to remember where she going, and how to get to certain places. It always took her a few tries before she could remember how to get somewhere.

Taking in the city around her as they went flying down streets, the thing that Pearl noticed the most for some reason was that a lot of streetlights where out. They passed a lot of them, of course, but there was still something about it that seemed a little odd. Narrowing her eyes as she watched the metal poles on the sidewalk fly by, she thought for a moment before she simply shrugged and got back to something else: going over her pockets in her mental checklist again.

"Robin and Starfire just checked in." Raven spoke, her head turning slightly to look behind her where Beast boy and Pearl were sitting. "They're having a little issue of their own. It seems that Johnny Rancid is trying to get away with armed robbery. They'll meet up with us when they can."

"Figures." Beast boy sighed, shaking his head as he shifted underneath his safety belt. "Those two are practically a team of their own, anymore."

"Sounds kinda cute to me, in a Romeo and Juliet sort of way." Pearl said with a smirk.

"Romeo and Juliet where star-crossed lovers. They both killed themselves." Raven sighed, rubbing her forehead as she explained, trying not to be annoyed. "How romantic."

"Oh yeah! I never thought of it that way."

As they continued talking, Pearl found her attention drifting elsewhere again. Leaning against the door, she listened to this absentmindedly, her mind fixed on the sound of the wind rushing through her wide open window, as well as watching the city fly by from the unique perspective of more than eighty miles an hour.

"Hey Cyborg! How is it you can get a road that's clear enough to go this fast?" Pearl asked with a grin, letting her arm slip out the window and hang in the airflow.

"Trade secret." He answered back, not taking his eyes off the road as he made a quick change of lanes, taking an exit ramp that would put them in the right direction.

"He's got mad skills!"

"You'll learn that you're much better off if you don't ask these two any questions." Raven answered, her head faced forward as she directed her voice at Pearl.

Beast boy only glared at her in response.

"Raven, can I ask you something?" Pearl questioned, turning to face forward, leaning closer towards the blue cloaked girl in front of her.

"It will have to wait. Look." The girl answered, pointing a delicate finger at the windshield.

Her eyes turning that direction, Pearl was a little surprised to see that there was a bright glow off in the distance farther down the road they had just gotten on. This part of town was mostly factory buildings: manufacturing plants and the occasional research lab, but their where some houses around as well. A few of them where right in the area where the glow was coming from, of course. There was nothing in this area that was more than five or six stories tall, so there was very little to block the view of the horizon.

Her eyes going wide, Pearl realized quickly that it was beginning to look like the sunset was reversed, and was coming back up, the orange glow getting stronger as they got closer.

"You know, nobody told me what this thing is." She asked, glancing around at them, seeing that the other Titans had taken on a more serious look as well.

"I'll tell you when we've put it out." Cyborg answered, his human eye looking angrier than Pearl had seen before.

"I'll hold you to that."

The next few minutes where silent, with only the roaring of the T-cars engine, as they covered the distance between them and the creature. The closer they got the more ready everyone seemed. At this point, you could already hear the sirens of fire trucks and everything else off in the distance. You could already see the flames rising up from some of the taller buildings, but at this time of night, the smoke coming from all of it blended into the dark sky. It couldn't be seen that easily.

It wasn't long before they finally saw it. Coming onto a road that had single story storage buildings on either side of it, they Titans where quickly jarred to a screeching halt as the huge flaming being jumped out onto the street directly in front of them. Cyborg had to lock the brakes to keep from driving straight into it, which sent the car into a screaming twirl, and pressed Pearl against the metal frame of the doors window.

She had only caught a glimpse of what looked like a tree trunk set on fire.

It took her only a few seconds, but just as she came to understand they had stopped she heard Cyborg scream something about everyone getting out. Her mind almost numb as she registered that the others where jumping out of the car before she realized that her hand had already stripped the belt away. Her mind kicking back into gear, Pearl grit her teeth as she pushed her body up, not even bothering to open the door. Gripping the bottom of the window frame, she pushed herself up and out, twisting her body as she leapt out of the car window.

**Thud!**

Breath was pushed out of her body at the impact, but not painfully so. She landed on her side, luckily enough, falling onto the road with a slight jolt. Her face had scraped the pavement, but before she could even feel it she was up on her feet and trying to see what was going on.

Turning back to the car as she took several steps back, she had just enough time to see a wave of fire pour down on it, an intense flame suddenly sweeping down and bathing the car in an inferno. Crying out, Pearl could only shield her face in futility as the heat from it registered with her, her body suddenly cooking at several hundred degrees. She the skin on her face, legs, and arms begin to burn, and tried to move back more.

Before she could take a step back, however, she felt a large arm wrap around her torso and yank her off her feet. Pulling her along, the arm seemed to haul her through the much cooler air before it drove her to the ground harshly.

She was on her back now, looking up at a scorched gorilla, which quickly turned back into the green skinned Beast boy. He was looked a little charred, the hair on his head smoking slightly, but he patted it out and turned his attention back to her.

"Dudette! That's no way to get a suntan!" He joked, reaching down and gripping her wrist. "Are you okay?"

Tensing her body as she pulled him up, she winced a little as the heat ebbed through her skin, glancing at her hands to see that they where already a scorched red, and realizing her face was probably the same.

"Y-yeah." She answered, relieved to feel that the air suddenly felt much cooler. "I'll heal this really quickly. T-thank you."

Reaching to her face, she felt the cheek that had gotten scraped, relieved to see that it had almost healed already, leaving only a bit of dirt there.

"I'm really getting tired of people wrecking my car!" Cyborg's voice shouted from the other side of the street, turning their attention. "You're going down hard!"

Her hand slapping the holster on her hip, Pearl quickly drew her weapon as her eyes fell on their enemy for the night: a towering figure that stood several stories tall. A thin, dark body that radiated heat from its insides, as the outside of it burned violently. Flames roared on the very surface of its 'flesh', and along with the other fires going on it bathed the whole area in a bright glow. In response to Cyborg, it roared loudly down at them, its breath igniting the air in a plume of flame.

Though Pearl was aiming her gun at it, she found herself at a loss after she was seeing this thing for the first time. This was the first time she'd seen a monster like this in her life, even though she had heard about things like this. The next instant seemed to happen very slowly, as if seconds had become minutes. Beast boy was turning to leap into the air, but it seemed to take forever.

She was suddenly struck with the realization of how insignificant she might truly be in this fight. This thing could probably do so much damage that she might not be able to help anyone at all. She was just a girl who could take away some of the harm people did to one another, as well as take a bit more damage than a normal girl could. She had no real abilities to use offensively. She had no place here.

'Are you afraid?' a voice seemed to speak, in the corner of her mind.

It wasn't until then that she realized her hands were trembling, especially the one with the gun in it. Not just slightly, but violently. She'd come so close to being cooked that it could be chalked up to the fear of that, but it wasn't truly that. She couldn't pin it down, she silently agreed with the question.

'If you are afraid to act, you will be useless.' The voice returned, stating it so matter-of-factly that Pearl found her mind blank for a moment. "If you get past it, you will be more effective than you think."

What could she hope to do, even if she wasn't afraid?

"Titans! Move!" Cyborg shouted, raising his gun arm and readying to fire, it's blue glow gaining strength. Time had seemed to return to normal, and for a moment, Pearl was confused.

She was still shaking, but this time she decided to turn her attention towards the fire creature in front of her.

Gripping her gun tighter, Pearl quickly glanced over her arm towards Cyborg, and a bit of confusion came over her when she realized that Raven was floating there behind the metallic Titan, her purple eye gazing directly at her.

She had no time to think about this, before another wave of flame swept down at them all.


	3. Trial by Fire pt 2

There was a vicious roar, as the sound of intense flame blazed just over her head. Though it had been meant to rain down on them, Pearl had been lucky enough for the attack to be just a little bit too high, and in a flash she had instinctively ducked her body into a crouch, the attack only succeeding in sending a wave of air that blasted her hair back. The heat from this was harsh, but it passed too quickly to really hurt.

Still, she felt like she was baking, and the air was getting harder to breath with this much heat.

Pearl was still a little confused by what had just happened, but couldn't stop to think about it now. Maybe it had been Raven? She'd have to ask the girl if they survived this, but it looked like the outcome was in question.

She tensed up for a second as Fire let his huge arm drop and took a step forward, ignoring the throbbing heat, as something else got her attention. The other Titans had suddenly become airborne, flying gracefully over the attack as they sprung to another position to attack. Even Cyborg, who had used his enormous strength to launch himself into the air, where he landed with a well-rehearsed roll onto the ground a stones throw away from Fire's feet.

Ignoring the bonfire that used to be the T-car, Pearl grit her teeth and rushed forward, putting some space between her and any open flames on the street as she brought her weapon up with both hands and took aim directly up at the creature's head. The tiny crosshairs on the weapon almost obscured the view of one of Fire's burning eyes, and she felt her finger hesitate for a split second as the sound of Cyborgs cannon sounded off.

The creature's head turned, glaring downwards at the much smaller Titan, giving her a clear shot of the side of its head. Pearl felt a sharp breath leave her lungs, and pulled the trigger with a snap of her finger.

BLAM!

The weapon exploded with a violent sound, making Pearl backstep to keep her balance as it sent a sharp burst of white-pink energy that pierced Fire's cranium like a needle. The force of it snapped its head backwards at a sickening angle, and for a second the creature halted, its arms half-raised to attack, a piece of its head hammered away like a cracked piece of skull and sent flying through the air as a chunk of shrapnel. For a brief moment, the flame around its head took on a blazing white. Then it seemed to die down, it's burning form dimming.

Fire's shoulders slumped, as Pearl lowered her gun, feeling shocked at yet another unexpected event. Her eyes glancing quickly down at the energy gun, she was a little more than surprised when she realized that the setting of it was set almost to it's highest, the tiny glowing light on the back of its handle a noticeable yellow. She hadn't done that.

Punching the setting on the gun, Pearl swore under her breath, knocking it back down to a less lethal level. She hadn't wanted to try to kill the thing.

"Fuck! Who set-?" she swore again, realizing that the others where frozen in mid-air for the moment, all of their eyes on her. Even Raven, who was in the middle of hovering a large chunk of concrete in the air just behind her, high in the air above the nearby buildings.

"I did." Raven answered down bluntly as she ignored the girl's language, eyeing Fire cautiously. "You have good aim."

Blinking stupidly, Pearl felt a twinge of anger, but didn't have time to say anything else, before their attention was turned back towards Fire, who let out a pained grumbling. Its head twitched slightly, before it pulled it back out of that sick angle and straightened out.

It brightened its flame for a brief second, before it dimmed down again, then it seemed to gain new strength as its body suddenly roared into new life. Its neck crunching loudly as it brought its gaze down to glare directly at Pearl, the burning in its insides becoming much more intense. Its flame grew white hot, as its fiery eyes narrowed in what could pass as absolute rage. Even the temperature in the air near the thing seemed to raise.

"Get the- !" Cyborg cried out, before the creature made one quick movement, clawing down at him so fiercely it raked the pavement, sending him flying backwards in a burning spiral.

"… Zinthos!" Raven finished suddenly, tossing the heavy piece of concrete.

With its newfound speed however, the creature simply braced itself and caught the debris with both fiery hands. Letting out a cackle that sounded like rocks clapping together, it hoisted the chunk of earth up and let it fly. Directly at a shapeshifter who had just been airborne long enough to realize what kind of position he was in.

Eagle that he was right now, he didn't have time to let out so much as a screech when the boulder flew directly into him and continued soaring through the air like a meteor.

Half ducking as the rock soared high over her head, Pearl turned just in time to catch a glimpse of it streaking away over the rooftop, taking Beast boy away with it.

"Pearl! Get out of there! Move!" Raven's voice cried out.

Pearl turned back to see the sight of Fire glaring death directly down at her, and the sight of plumes of white flame pouring out of the holes she'd blasted in its head, looking like a demons horns, did its job at intimidating her.

"Eeep!"

Her voice suddenly escaping her as the huge creature stomped once, then twice in her direction, Pearl did the first thing that could come to her mind. She gripped her gun tightly around its handle, turned in place as quickly as her body would allow… and ran as fast as her little legs could go.

"No! No! No!" she screamed out, her muscles pumping as the sound of heavy stomping trailed behind her.

Racing down the side of the street and past the T-car, Pearl was glad that she decided to go with low cut boots for this costume, as the creature gave another road and swung its arm at an arc that swished through the air loudly. A plume of flame spread from its arm like a spread-fired flamethrower, but its target was more maneuverable than it seemed. The moment before the flame could contact, Pearl had reached the nearby corner of the street and dived behind the corner of the building, evading it as she picked up the pace again.

A lethal blast to the head hadn't stopped this thing, and she didn't think she could do anything that would. She'd only managed to make it mad, and for all she knew it was going to roast her alive!

Glancing back as she raced down the vacant street, she caught a glimpse of it rounding the corner after her, its footsteps still booming loudly in her ears. Turning ahead again, she could only let out a breathless groan as she tried to cut over to the other side of the street where there were a few things she might be able to hide behind.

Grunting loudly from the effort as she slowed for a fraction of a few seconds, Pearl whipped her head back again as she kept moving, this time sweeping her arm back at the same time, bringing her weapon back and getting a bead on the creatures shoulder.

BLAM! BLAM!

The light burst from the barrel of the gun again, but she didn't stop to see if it had any effect. That would have been futile, since it was a lower setting now than it had been when it didn't work the last time. Instead, Pearl let her ears tell her as she turned back and began her sprint again, her breath ragged as she clenched her eyes shut.

Just keep running, for the love of god!, her mind screamed at her.

There where several heavy thumps that told her that the creature had stumbled back, but it was still coming! She heard it roar loudly again, though. Before she had time to react, another burst of flame poured down from above, this time directly on top of her!

"AAAAHHH!"

Her run faltering, Pearl suddenly found herself completely engulfed in white hot flame! She couldn't breath! Stumbling forward, she fell hard onto the pavement, her body suddenly convulsing as a wave of agony swept over her skin. Nerves screamed unbearably at her as the flame caught nearly every part of her body, and she could feel herself blistering open and charring.

She couldn't react. For a moment, all she could do was thrash forward and let out a pitiful whimper. The idea of rolling suddenly occurred to her, and in as quick a flash as she could muster, Pearl made her best attempt at it, twisting herself out of the inferno and onto the cold concrete again.

This time however, the pain didn't ease the moment she got out of it. She was still on fire, her clothing still smoking and feeding the orange flame.

Hearing another thud once again, she twisted over again painfully just in time to see a burning foot stomp down into the raging flames only a few feet from her. Tilting her eye up, she caught sight of Fire glaring down at her just in time to receive a harsh blow directly in the chest from a huge metal pipe coated in a black energy.

Knocking it backwards several steps, the pipe drew back again, and Raven came into view just in time to swing her hands forward and drive the weapon into Fires abdomen with a sick thud.

The blow sent embers flying into the air, like what you would see at a campfire. For a moment, Pearl almost couldn't feel the pain she was in. The sight of the embers…

"Pearl!" Cyborgs voice called out just before there was a powerful hissing sound, an extremely cold air suddenly sweeping over her and clouding her vision with a white vapor.

She could only grimace further as the intense chill racked through her body, triggering a shudder that only made pain shoot through her nerves even harder. Turning her head up, she saw from the corner of her eye that Cyborg has kneeled down towards her, his hand changing from the shape of some strange device back into the normal one she was used to.

"Just stay still Pearl! Don't try to move!" Cyborg ordered, his voice sounding more panicked than she expected as he raised his arm and turned on his communicator. "Robin! Starfire! We have an emergency!"

"Cyborg?" Pearl croaked out, slowly turning over and onto her back, ignoring the pain as best she could, feeling her eyes begin burning harshly as several tears rolled down her face. The pain was still coming.

She knew she had to be a sight. She knew exactly what fire could do to a person, and with this level of pain she had to have suffered a lot of damage. Her hair had all been burned off, her skin blackened and cracked, and from the feel of it her clothes and even her gun had been burned into her skin. She couldn't tell if it was third degree, but it was very close if it wasn't.

For the moment, everything else in the world didn't seem to matter. Raven was taking care of Fire, but that seemed like something unimportant right now.

"Just be still, girl! We'll get you help! I'm getting the EMP's!"

"Cyborg, it's ok." She answered softly, her other eye creeping open and looking up at him. "I… think I… that I can… heal this."

"Are you insane?!"

"I promise I'll never play with matches, okay?" She answered, more tears rolling down her charred cheeks as she spoke through the pain. "I _will_ heal this. Just… give me a moment. Please? Give me… a moment? Please!"

Though Cyborg didn't know it, this had just become something personal for the healer. She'd been hurt before just like anyone else, but this was like nothing she had ever done before. Laying there charred like a piece of hamburger, Pearl realized that if she was going to be expected to heal others from such things, it would be foolish of her to try to if she couldn't even heal herself from it.

For her, it would be foolish.

"Go help Raven." She breathed out, her green eyes blinking slowly as she lay motionless. "I have to… use my powers for this."

Before Cyborg could answer, Pearl shut her eyes for a moment, taking a ragged breath in and holding it before she let it out. As Cyborg watched the burned girl open her eyes again, he felt a little less panicked about the situation as he saw the girls eyes take on a glow. There was a slight swirl of a pinkish white energy that drifted around the whites of her eyes, as he gaze became slightly vacant, staring at the empty space up in the night sky. After a tense moment, the green of her eyes faded to a much lighter shade more akin to the color of a pearl. Like her namesake.

Standing up, Cyborg kept his gaze on the poor girl for a moment before he looked back up to see the creature Fire finally catch hold of the piece of pipe Raven was wielding against it and tear it from her powers grasp. Clenching his fist, he glared at the creature as he tried to come up with a better idea than what they where doing.

"This thing is going to wish it had never been lit." he said lowly, his voice speaking a certainty that no one would dare argue with.

Pearl couldn't agree. She hadn't heard it at all. Her attention was turned onto herself, as she tried to start undoing the damage.


End file.
